Woke Definition & Characteristics of Woke People

/wōk/ 

adj.

Having the tendency to view personal or societal problems as primarily the result of deliberate or systemic bias based on immutable characteristics such as race, gender, or sexuality, and which must be solved by redistributing resources such as money, rights, or attention to victims.

Common beliefs of the woke

• Economic or social differences between groups (aka “disproportionate outcomes”) are the result of bias or unfairness.
• It is not possible for members of different groups to fully understand each other because their experiences are so different.
• Awareness of social problems comes with a responsibility to solve them in a redistributive way. E.g. Once you become aware of homelessness, the solution is to provide free housing, the solution to poverty is to give money, the solution to lack of representation is affirmative action, etc.
• Solutions should also address “root causes” or solve the entire problem. Treating the symptoms of an issue is not acceptable and entire systems must be revamped to eliminate problems.
• Acknowledging a person or group’s struggle can heal their pain. Thus, “raising awareness” through protest or spreading of woke ideas is a moral obligation. Corollary: discussing non-woke explanations or solutions for societal problems is equivalent to harm.
• Righteous victimhood is the highest source of virtue. If not a victim themselves, the woke can pursue victim status in a number of ways:
  • Activism or allyship with victims, creating a perverse incentive where activists and allies seek to find or create new sources of victimhood which they can promote.
  • Wokes with oppressive-coded identities (white, straight, male, or wealthy) may self-flagellate and put their guilt on display, diminishing their own ideas as invalid or their presence as harmful (concept of “privilege”). 
  • They may also seek victim status by promoting the idea that the entire system is corrupt (hence most or all members of society are victims).
• Woke ideas are morally irreproachable (on “the right side of history”).
• The most important virtues are compassion, kindness, fairness, and equality.
• Woke beliefs are immune from criticism since they are no different from being kind, fair, caring, or simply aware of social issues. The woke may insist on a definition of the term to avoid discussing the material aspects of an issue, or even go so far as to claim wokeness does not exist at all.
• Fetishization of:
  • Good intentions: Outcomes are less important than the feeling of being kind or righteous. Has the effect of holding woke ideas immune from criticism since “at least we tried” is an equally valorous result.
  • Destigmatization:  Since words can cause harm, any social stigma must be neutralized. Discussion of issues is chilled for the sake of anyone who might be stigmatized.
  • Community input: The “community” (typically limited only to other woke people) is a never-ending source of victimhood. Activists working under the guise of “community members” can always pessimistically raise problems and block progress.
  • Ancient wisdom: Things were better before industrialization and capitalism, primitive people were more enlightened, etc.
  • Tearing down established systems or heroes: “Did you know the Founding Fathers owned slaves?” “Christopher Columbus was a genocidal colonialist.”
  • Problems as wholesale indictments of entire systems: Overexaggeration of legitimate problems and making an illogical leap to denigrate larger parts of society. “Racism was common during the founding of the United States therefore it is a racist country.” “It’s irresponsible to have kids in a world that’s burning.” “Getting married is a capitalist trap.”

Why wokeness is sticky and self-perpetuating

• Wokeness offer instant hierarchical status to its believers, a one-move solution to being moral.
• Because wokes believe harm primarily stems from bias, wokeness has the special property of disabling the believer’s critical faculties, since questioning a belief throws doubt on a person or group’s victim status. If a believer is afraid to be seen as a biased oppressor, or believes discussing something will cause harm to victims, they are not likely to discuss it.
• Wokeness also prevents progress because it sets rules about who can discuss ideas. Instead of being open to new ideas from anyone, it limits participation based on characteristics such as race or gender. And it insists that plans, progress, or growth must be paused until the needs of all potential victims are addressed.
• Words are frequently redefined and new phrases are introduced which has the effect of creating confusion. There is always a new cause or victim class to be considered, which has the effect of making people careful of speaking in non-harmful ways and stifling debate and critique.

Woke motivations

The woke may:

• Have personal problems, secrets, or flaws they fear they would be judged or penalized for, so they promote the idea of victimization by life circumstances in hopes they will also be supported when it eventually comes out.
• Be lulled by a seemingly easy, one-move solution to raising their morality or status.
• Be looking to compensate for their own unaddressed guilt of being upper class.
• Be burned out on life, hate the current system and want to rationalize their urge to check out by painting the entire system as evil (racist, sexist, transphobic, etc)
• Not understand how to be successful in their career and may be looking for an easy path (helping an organization reach their social justice goals).
• Look to identify oppression to give themselves permission to express their own shadow behavior (vengeance, spite, their own oppressive tendencies).